The Sunday Mail
THERE is something warm and welcoming about a fireplace.
However, many fireplaces in many homes are non-functioning or simply never used. Your fireplace should never have to look empty, stark or lonely. We are offering a few ideas to help fill your hearth.
Fireplace turned into storage space
Add shelving units to the interior of your fireplace to turn it into extra storage space. Printed wallpaper in the background can add a fun and pleasant design element. This is a great idea for apartments and smaller spaces where storage can be tight.
Create a book lover’s nook
Use your non-working fireplace as a creative home for books. All your books could become easily accessible should someone want to reach in and retrieve one.
Nothing says it like flowers
We love and embrace everything natural and green. The large vase of flowers does not obstruct, but rather enhances the elegant fireplace.
The flowers add colour and vibrancy to the room, and are easily interchanged to reflect the seasons. Replace fresh flowers with fresh branches of pine or holly for a more holiday-like feel.
Create a vignette or display your collectibles
An empty fireplace is a wonderful platform to share your collectibles. Be careful that they are not too small or fragile so as not to be easily damaged. Fireplaces can get dusty, so a few big items are preferable to many smaller items when it comes to time to clean them all. If you are not the collectibles type, create a small vignette.
Put a log in the fireplace
There is something warm and inviting, festive and fun about a log-filled fireplace.
Without even being lit, the wood evokes a feeling of warmth and hominess. The wood gives an eco-friendly, natural and organic feel to the space. The logs, of all shapes and sizes, also add texture and pattern on their own.
Create a personal gallery
Display some of your favourite pieces of artwork inside the fireplace, instead of on the walls or over the mantel. Framed pieces, grouped together and placed on the floor, add not only a sense of creativity and freshness to your space but will surely be the focal point of your room and garner some great conversation.
Art becomes even more fabulous when it is not hung predictably on walls.
Burn, baby, burn
We love this beautiful and clever placement of pillar candles. Whether you prefer flames or flame-less, this is a perfect solution for those who want to create the effect of warmth and fire without the hassle and mess. The arrangement is warm, inviting and romantic, and would bode well in any home or fireplace, working and non-working. For those of you who suffer allergies, wood-burning fires can be terrible, and this is a perfect alternative and should not bother even the most sensitive of respiratory systems.
Display your wares
A bust, a shell, large sculpture or any object of art will create a stylish flair to your dark and empty hearth. Perhaps a prized possession or a treasure from your journey to a foreign country, anything at all, can be placed inside a hearth.
You can think of it as another open cabinet space that just so happens to be on the floor. A large planter, copper pots, a large silver trophy filled with flowers and an oversized bowl of ornaments or pine cones would work. The possibilities are endless! — mymove.com
